Neko Soul
by herRhi-chan
Summary: He's a hybrid of a modsoul and a cat. his heightened senses and reflexes make him an excellent fighter. he's lived the short span of his life in a lab, where they decide one day to terminate the project, but he escapes to the human world. now what?Shi/Ich
1. Chapter 1

Everything is so foggy, I can't exactly remember where I am, I know I know where and what but it's so foggy I can't think clearly. I could feel a sharp prick of pain down the front of me, and several pinpricks in my arm. I think I was asleep for sometime, but I can't remember…but now I'm hovering between consciousness, I tried focusing on what was going on, and the pain in my stomach and chest suddenly got worse, searing and sharp. My eyelids were partly open, I realized, and feeling was coming back everywhere, though now I wish it wasn't. I remembered now, I was on a cold metal table, the pricks in my arm were needles and IVs, the agony from my torso was from the cold bloodied scalpel this insane motherfucker was using to cut me open to 'make sure everything was working correctly'. Did I look goddamn sick? No. I wanted so much to slip back into that dreamless forgetful state of sedation. No pain, no memories.

All my senses were coming back in full, though I stayed still. Perhaps being alert was better then being numb and blind, at least that's what my instincts told me. I heard clicking footsteps, something jarred he table, making the scalpel or whatever other instruments of torture cut across my hip harshly. It stung like fuck! I bit my tongue so hard it bled, bt I couldn't swallow, he'd see. I heard the mad scientist swear and scream something about incompetent assistants, and a threat or two about performing live dissections on whoever it was. I perked my eyelids open just barely so I could see. Oh, of course, it was his mindless assistant/daughter/someone-he-molested-sometimes, she apologized emotionlessly.

Coming back fully to reality, fire burned through the incision lines, and I could feel the cold air blowing on my insides, it was something you never want to feel. It's sickly.

I heard them talking close to the table I was on, harsh whispers, but I could hear them easily.

"central forty-six has decided to terminate this project, just as they did project spearhead, with the Kaizō Konpaku. They request that you conclude your research and eliminate the subjects."

No, oh fuck, no! they can't do that…

"those meddling bastards, as soon as I get some progress and they-oh fine, Nemu."

I heard more footsteps and watched her walk away. Another one of his assistants, a short kid with brown hair twitched nervously as the Kurotsuchi bastard eyed him. I hated this place, this world. Goddamn it.

"think you can handle a simple task? Sew him ip, it doesn't matter the size of the stitches I guess, and inject him with the purple liquid in that bottle," he pointed his disgusting wrinkled white finger at a bottle of purple liquid, "purple's the toxic one, green's the muscle sedative. That'll kill him in five minutes flat."

It was disgusting and unfair and…just so…frustrating that my fate, whether I lived or DIED could be decided just like that! With a simple flick of the wrist.

More pinpricks assaulted where the cuts had been, it felt like something was crawling under my skin, inside the layer of epidermis, I knew the quivering boy-thing was sewing me up, and doing a damn awful job at it, catching more skin here, completely missing gaps of it there. When he pull the thin red thread through the holes he made in my skin, it made me prickle and shiver, and it itched! The stitches itched, and it made everything seem even more unjust and wrong because, not only am I sentenced to death for simply existing, but I was gonna go down defenseless and itching. I could've screamed. I watched him with pure disgusted fascination, as he snipped the end of the red thread, and reached for one of the bottles of poison.

"right, o-okay, green one's the poison, purple's the sedative…" a sick slurping noise attacked my ears, making my heart quicken and beat fast, blood rushing through my system, probably trying to make up for the time it wouldn't have. The needle he had was big thick and full of slush like green stuff, hell it looked toxic. He injected it into the tube connected to my arm by a ¼ inch thick needle, and the second it hit my racing bloodstream, everything went stiff and rigid. I couldn't move, couldn't close the eye I had partially open, couldn't twitch my toes.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the crazy bastard smiling with his golden teeth I just wanted to rip out, heading towards the room where I, and several others like me were kept. I heard swears, hissing, scratching noises, a hushed 'zap' sound and five thuds, like bodies falling to the floor, I knew that sound very well. He'd just killed every person I knew, every being I got along with, who knew me. Dead now.

If I could've functioned or moved, I think I would've felt hot liquid stream down my face.

My temple was pressed to the table, so I could hear my blood rushing insanely fast, but slowly, I could feel and hear my heart beat slow down, my life coming to a close. Then it nearly stopped. Nothing worked anymore, I couldn't feel anything, but for some strange reason, probably because fate delights in tormenting me, I could still hear everything going on around me, taste the blood from my tongue, and see out of my one eye, and smell the scent of decay clinging to this room.

"you used the purple one correct?" _his_ voice.

"y-yyes, Captain Kurotsuchi"..huh? I couldn't process that, it was too fast. Everything was too fast, I couldn't comprehend anything. So…confusing. Who am I again?

These people moved my body to another table, piled with other bodies, and raced us to another room. At least, it seemed like they were running at the speed they were going. They dumped the cart over, the fall to hit the stone ground seemed to take forever.

"just leave the bodies there, eventually the reiryoku they're made of with expel into the atmosphere of Sereitei…" I still couldn't understand anything they were saying, it was as if they were speaking in a deep unidentifiable language.

It seemed ages before I could start thinking again. Why wasn't I dead yet? Or was this death, being stuck in your lifeless body uncomprehending anything anymore, left to dissolve and rot…

The feeling in my numb limbs was returning, and so was my mind. I went back through my thoughts, I wasn't dead. And I was sitting on a pile of my dead friends. I still couldn't move, but I would get some kind of revenge!

Purple, purple was the toxin…green was the muscle sedative? Is that why I felt dead, but was now breathing? Whatever the reason, I'm thankful for that shinigami assistant's idiocy. I guess there is room for a few idiots in the world…

I knew something terrible was going to happen, ever since they killed off all the kaizo konpaku from the spearhead project, I warned the people I now sat upon. They didn't know what to do, but what are you supposed to do avoid death, when you're in a damn lab on lockdown?

We were from a different sect on the modified soul experiments. We were supposed to be better, stronger, more powerful, with keener senses, lightening quick reflexes, and an acute killing instinct. The Mayuri-teme came up with an idea to make those hollow fighting war souls even better after the first ones were scrapped. We had permanent bodies, very unique bodies. He took the genes from a cat, for heightened senses and sharp reflexes, and crossed them with one of the discarded human genes, creating six hybrids. They performed so many experiments on us, some painful, some tiring, and whenever there was a hollow around, he would record notes on how we fought. The longest time it took one of us to kill one of the masked bastard was about thirty seconds. They did tests on our reflexes, I could catch a bullet between two fingers, rip the wings off a fly, my senses, I could see over a mile away when I squinted, and pick up scents over two miles away, following and naming them exactly. I guess I was his favorite to experiment on, because I spent the most times on that dissection table, having things tweaked, surgeries done, more things in me adjusted. I was the biggest freak out of all of them, I was the one that had the most experiments done on me, and I think that made the other five rather…unnerved by me. Yes, I am strange. Among the normal procedures, increasing my muscles ability to move, my core's ability to produce reiatsu, blah blah blah, he messed with my organs. I had a male and female reproductive system, which was incredibly humiliating when I got to explain that to my 'friends', I had three lungs, so I could run without panting, and hold my breath three times as long as a human, also the claws from my cat mother's genes were retracted underneath my human mother's genes. Also from the cat side I had…ears. They twitched, and were fluffy, but I could hear things, wind blowing, conversations from five rooms over, clicking of a pen from the other side of a room, anything. I have a tail…yeah, it's white, I have no idea what good that's for, it's an extension of my spine I think, to give my balance whenever I jump…or fall. Of course, I also had the pointy teeth, and a cross of a human and cat nose, the human part just barely stunting my ability to scent things out.

Apart from that, the rest of my body looked human, except for its color. When I was first created, I was smaller, a kidden? Heh heh…they injected me with ground up bits of hollow dissolved in a serum, giving me some hollow-like attributes. My eyes were black and gold, and my skin was snowy white, though I in no way liked its resemblance to Mayuri. My hair was white too, with silver streaks in it, I was used the most ecause my skin was so translucent from lack of sunlight, they could see inside me without cutting me open!...I hated this skin.

Suddenly I felt my pinky twitch. Felt…twitch…I could move. Just to test t out, I made a fist. It was weak, as if my arm was asleep, but I could move. There were five shinigamis that I could see. I smiled psychotically; this would be revenge, five dead shingami for five dead of my kind.

Before they could see me, I leapt to my feet, silently stalking behind the first one. I clawed his throat out, throwing the part of his neck stuck in my hand to the floor. The dead 'body' fell to the ground with a thunk, much like when I heard my friend's lifeless bodies fall to the ground. The next two turned to face me at the wet sound, drawing their zanpakutou. I grinned; this is what I was created for, you dumbasses! I didn't speak though. I couldn't make a verbal sound. The first came down in my grasp; I spun him around to catch the other's katana in the chest. The shock clear on his face, I jumped over his back, landing behind him and shoving my extended claws through the back of his chest. Two more came at me. I grabbed the first's hand, twisting it behind him and hitting him forcefully in the temple with the hilt of his katana, satisfied with the bleeding head, I bit the last one's hand, taking control, I grabbed his hand, making him draw his zanpakutou and opening a Senkaimon. Then I slashed his throat. Simple, and easy. Before anyone else could come and see this mess, I jumped through the gateway to the world of the living. There, no one could track me. There, no one would experiment on me. There, I would be free.

So, should I continue with this? Review please!


	2. Chapter 2

Ch-2

The doorway closed behind me, closing me off from the place I'd come to hate. Sure, I'd killed five people. But they killed my five first. I knew they wouldn't view it fairly in a trial; I would be sentenced to death, should they ever find me. But no one saw me head through the Senkaimon, and according to Mayuri, I was dead, dissolved into reiatsu particles in the air.

Just thinking that cursed name made the uneven stitches hurt worse, and then thinking about the stitches made them hurt worse. I could feel my own blood drip down from the wound. It hurt worse then anything he'd ever done to me. He hadn't given me enough anesthetic to put me all the way under, and then that imbecile couldn't sew me up evenly. I looked down at the jagged skin, sections of it drawn taut between the loops of the red thread, making it bunch up and crinkle. It looked disgusting, felt even worse. How the hell I was alive, I didn't know. The edges of the skin that met had started to scab over; if I didn't re-do the stitches it would heal that way. This had happened to me over a dozen times in my short life. That psychotic asshole would slice me open, dig around searching for something or implanting something, then sew me up-neatly- and rub some sort of salve on it to heal the scars so I didn't have any 'imperfections'.

I guess I was used more for a lab rat then for the purpose I was originally intended to serve. But what the fuck did it matter now?

I had to find some clothes, something to cover up. from the snippets of information I'd gathered, they didn't really allow half-naked people to run around. All I had was the bottom half of a ripped shinigami robe, and oh how I detested shinigami. Though it was different, not as long, it was more of a skirt-like pair of shorts. Mayuri had all his human-like experiments wear them. They were versatile and didn't get in the way or snag on things. No sleeves and no pant legs to trip over.

I found myself on top of a hill, the sky was dark with sparkling dots of silver strewn across it. it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. There were no signs of human life around which was fine by me. There were trees surrounding me, and nothing but sky ahead.

Then the air shifted, and I could literally smell a Gargantua opening, releasing a hollow. If I had my own will, I would let it kill whatever it wanted. But I did not have that, though I would work to break then bred-in instinct. Anytime we were near a hollow, something hard-wired into the brain would take over, giving us no choice but to destroy it. So, abandoning the place that had given a feeling of calm, I dashed off, doing a mix of shunpo and sonido to get to this fucker, my limbs aching and my insides on fire.\

I was above the treetops which abruptly cut off near patches of grass with gray and white pieces of stone positioned uniformly about. I spotted the masked thing, and clawed in from behind. It screeched its head-ache inducing screech, making me even more pissed off. I started from the tail of it, ripping off pieces of its rotting flesh, just so I could enjoy this death. If I had to do Sereitei's bidding, I would damn well torture the souls is sent. When I reached the mask face, I ripped it from the head, only it didn't come off alone, it brought the head with it. damn, there went my punching bag.

The pain came became worse, I wanted to die rather then deal with it, I just wanted to get away from it, FUCK, it hurt. I wanted to cry, wanted to scream, anything, but I couldn't make a sound. I couldn't let loose any screams of agony because of the thing around my throat.

I want the first created by that bastard, my whole group wasn't even the first. Before we came into existence, there was a prototype group that they made just to see if they could. There were many problems in the first group, imperfections, malfunctions. The first group was too animal like, they were too impulsive, had emotions, and made noise. They would beg to be let free or they would scream when they were opened up. So after the prototype group was annihilated, he injected hollow into some of us, I included, to counteract the feelings, and he created straps that couldn't be removed by the wearer, to go around the throat to cut the vocal cords so no noise could be made. So I could not scream because of the degrading collar cutting into my throat.

Even more blood cascaded out because in my movements I'd ripped the scabbed over skin and some of the stitches as well. Shit, now what? My stomach, hips, and legs were completely stained red, and I felt light-headed. I would not end here! There's no way! I just escaped from that torturous place; I would not die one my first taste of freedom.

I heard voices…or rather just one voice. I could smell it…him, and after a few minutes I saw a black bodied orange topped blur. The black robe…he was a frickin' shinigami…but when I sniffed, I couldn't smell that much on him, his scent was almost purely human…what the hell?

Whatever it was, I had to hide…or at least cover up my ears and tail somehow. I untied the white fabric holding up the half-hakama to tie over my head and cover my ears, and also the spots where human ears would be. All I had to do was keep a grip on the skirt now, and tuck my ridiculous tail around my waist so it was out of sight…and of course, cover up the gaping bleeding hole in my middle. Yep, that would be easy.

I sucked in all the reiatsu I had, so I seemed like a low level human…with a bleeding gash down the front. Fuck it, I had to hide. I ran back into the trees, trying not to bleed so much, and attempting to blend in…not that feasible seeing as I'm pure white surrounded by black and green shadows.

Everything was slow again, slow and aching. My vision, my perfect vision was blurred from the pain. I could still see right though, I watched as the non-shinigami came closer and closer. He saw the knocked over rubble left from the rampaging hollow, and then he spotted the blood trail. God fucking damn it…

As he came nearer, I wondered what he would do. I couldn't sonido away anymore, I couldn't move anymore. The pain and blood loss was too great. If I couldn't stop the flow, I'd be dead.

I blinked, and when my lids re-opened there was orange everywhere. I stared up into those appalled and disturbed brown eyes; he looked like he was near vomiting, probably from the stench of blood. The expression of his face was hard to read, partly because I didn't have that many, so my knowledge was limited, and partly because I was half blinded from pain and lack of blood in my brain, but it was something I'd never seen before; concern. Did that mean he felt pity for me? Did that mean he wouldn't take me back to die? Did he even know what I was? So many questions raced through my mind, none of them I'd ever be able to ask.

I watched his eyes travel to stare at the –somehow- still bleeding wound, glimpsing the ripped stitches probably, and then looking at my face. Everything was just too much. I focused on pure white nothingness, as if doing this would put my mind and nerves under sedation, making me numb. It didn't work.

Then he bent down, kneeling beside me, sliding his arms under me and hefting me up. He moved robotically, as if he was used to handling bleeding dying bodies. Hell, maybe he was. My body shook, bending me at an odd angle in his arms when he shunpoed off. I had no idea where we were going. I didn't know why he would bother to help me. I didn't understand, and that frustrated me, made me angry at him. I could feel more stitches pulling out, sliding disgustingly against the punctured holes, the top most part flapping open in the wind. That chill came back, the cold against my insides. I wanted to tell him to slow down, put me down, make it stop, but I couldn't protest. All I could do was lay there now, once again at someone else's mercy.

My eyes burned, but no tears came, so I stared at the dark sky with the twinkling lights. It calmed me down some, made me less opposed to being carried by this stranger.

When he stopped running, I could make out a huge building in the darkness. The shining orbs in the black sky were dimmer, not so visible anymore.

"can you stand?" what?...once again everything was gibberish. What did that mean? I squinted at him. All my senses blank, I could barely hear his voice. Saying something to himself, he put me in a different position, on my feet gripping my back with one arm. I was led to a big door. It was metal, something I was used to. Where was he taking me?

It was dark inside, and no one was around. That was good I guess. I couldn't smell any shinigami, but then again I couldn't smell anything but my own blood.

The human-gami half dragged me to another room, this one was very small, squeezing us together. The doors closed without him touching them, and then some weird sensation came over the tips of my numbing fingers, and my head began to join the rest of my body in its quest to make me lose my mind from the excruciating pain.

When the doors opened again, there was a long hallway with many doors on each side. He took me to one a ways away and stuck a silver key in the lock it clicked, creaking open.

By this point I was fading in and out of awareness, here one moment, into oblivion the next. When I could finally get a grip on consciousness, I could see that I was in a small room, about the size of the cell I'd shared with my friends. Terror struck me when I didn't feel the skirt-shorts on my waist. That meant my cat's tail, meaning my secret, was known now. I forced my eyes open, searching for anything. Then I realized I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't move my fingers…but I also couldn't feel any pain either.

A soft noise hit my ears, most likely twenty seconds before he heard it. a soft chuckle. I've never laughed before.

"I gave you a bunch of pain killers to numb you up while I fixed your…" he made a waving gesture towards my body. Glaring down, I could still see black material perfectly covering my cat's tail.

"this wound…it looks horrifying and really infected, what the hell happened to you?" he sounded genuinely concerned. I could tell when people were being false, no matter what there was a tremor or a a slight fluctuation in the voice. He actually cared…why? Who would? More questions. No answers. I couldn't answer him. He stared expectantly at my face, as if looking at me would make me do what I wasn't capable of.

His gaze lowered to my neck. Could I be so lucky?

"this thing is digging into your neck…it looks so tight." It felt tight. I could feel the straps sutting into my throat. He picked up a tool I knew quite well. Scissors. Rationally, I knew he was trying to help me, but the treatment I'd received from most sharp objects made me go haywire. My mind became wild, no longer thinking. If I was able to move, this nice person, who carried me to his home to take care of me, would be in a bloody crumpled pile on the floor. And I'd be dead from the over exertion.

The moment the collar on my neck snapped, I took in such deep breaths, like I'd never breathed before, fully inflating all three of my lungs. I wanted to thank him, I felt so much gratitude for this man. He'd given me the ability to hear my own voice, to speak, to cry, to scream…maybe…to laugh?

I was on a bed next to a table. I'd never been on a bed before. It was so soft. The table had a steel tray with several instruments on it, and for a moment I was transported back to Mayuri's lab, but quickly regaining control. there was a roll of bandages and thin clear thread next to a needle and a small rectangle with a metal top.

I watched in morbid fascination as he pulled the last of the thick red thread from my skin with a pair of tweezers, a suction sound and a plop sounding when it came all the way out. I would've cringed, he did. Once that was done, he took two soaked cloths and sqeezed them out and rubbed them gently on my huge-ass cut.

"peroxide might sting, saline should help a little" not that I knew what that was. Then he placed two clear strips and smoothed them over the exposed part of my insides, pressing my flapping skin over it firmly. There was a squelching noise as air left the pocket.

Gradually, I could feel more pinpricks, like my whole body was tingling from falling asleep. The feeling in my face came back starting from my tongue, which tasted like blood.

He took the rectangle thing and pressed down on the top of it, a small flame coming out. He held the needle over it for a few seconds then set it back down. Sharper pinpricks assaulted my shredded skin as he swiftly pulled a needle and clear thread through. These stitches were small and neat, catching both sides of it each time, making a smooth line. Hurriedly, the human took the bandage roll, and started wrapping it around my midsection, lifting me up to pull it under, and back over, tightly encasing me in them.

"hopefully, that will work" he sounded pleased with himself. I was entirely grateful he hadn't taken me to a hospital, and very thankful he did this for me. Kindness was foreign to me. I wanted to thank him with my voice so badly, but whenever I opened my mouth, formed words with my lips, no air would vibrate through my vocal cords, no sound would come. What the fuck? Why not? The restraining collar was gone, so why wouldn't my voice come? Maybe now, I would never laugh. Hah, what a thought.

"you should sleep, whatever the hell you went through was probably exhausting. Once the words he could so easily produce left his lips, it was as if a switch inside me flipped. Everything hit me. All the pain was back ten fold, all the efforts from my escape and killing were bearing down on me. I couldn't move, not because of the numbness, that had worn off, but because my muscles had no energy enough left to twitch. Nothing. He moved me over, slipping something soft and comforting under my head, my eyes slipped closed, and I was dead to the worlds.

Alright…so…yeah…reviews?


	3. Chapter 3

I was surrounded by trees with sounds coming from each direction. I couldn't tell where or what the noises were coming from, which was odd, because I could always recognize things easily. Something wet hit my face I think it was rain because it continued to pour down, soaking my face. I laid my ears flat against my head so water wouldn't go down them. Even though it felt wet, when I actually tried to feel for it, it was as if there was nothing there, as if I were only seeing it. I'd never felt rain before though, so maybe this was what it was like. Something tugged at my mind, something I was supposed to know and all of a sudden everything fell from beneath me, the ground I hadn't felt under my feet started tumbling, and everything turned black. I was falling, though I couldn't see my arms or legs flailing around me, all I could see was nothing below me, my head tingling and loose, the feeling a rush.

Then everything was different. There was no plummeting feeling anymore, my head was still, and my eyes were closed. A dream. I loved dreams, they were my escape. I kept my eyes shut tight and didn't move. If I moved, that would draw attention to me, Mayuri would see me and he'd do more ridiculous things to me. I inhaled just barely…no one was here. There wasn't anyone in my cell next to me. Where did they all go? Venturing a little, I breathed deeper, the scent of this place…it didn't smell like chemicals and death, so I wasn't in the lab? Where was I now? I slid my finger across whatever I was laying on, it felt textured and soft, and realization hit me once more. I was where that orange-headed shini-human had taken me. He'd carried me here, hadn't he? Why was that again-ow, oh fuck! That was why, because of the fucked up stitches…from escaping Mayuri's lab, where the few of my kind were killed.

I was on alert. Just because he'd…_saved_ me didn't mean I trusted him, wherever he was. Cautiously, I opened my eyes to look around. I could move now, I felt better then I ever had before, a strange sense of triumph filling me. I shifted my back in just a way so I wouldn't rip the bandages, stiffness gone with a satisfying 'pop'. I patted the wrappings, smoothing them down, and twitched my tail to make sure it was there. It's strange, but I think it's a cat thing to be paranoid about whether you still have your tail. I readjusted my skirt-short thing, tying a knot in it so I wouldn't have to hold it up, my tail re-attaching itself to my thigh. My ears felt sore from being bent under the head-tie thing, so I pulled them out from under it to rub them. It's embarrassing to admit, but I had to resist the urge to purr. After a few minutes, I tucked them back under safely.

I stood carefully incase I fell, my nose twitching…my nose, oh shit, my nose. It was so obvious now, my nose was different, the tip of it split and pinkish like a cat's. I'm just so glad I don't have whiskers. I was alone in the room, so I looked around. There was tile on the floor, cold and hard, the color was a light blue matching the walls. The tile was streaked with blood, so was the door and part of the blanket I'd laid on. The hole in the wall covered with glass led to the outside world, I walked over to it. Looking out, it was still dark outside. So I couldn't've been asleep that long. I came closer and peeked down, the ground was far away, and there were lots of other glass covered holes along the building.

I heard the door swing open, that man walking in again with a bucket of red tinged water and a mop stained crimson as well. He walked across the room, oblivious to my staring, opening a different door, dragging the blood soaked equipment behind him. Silently I followed. In this room, which was tiny and cramped, there was a toilet white sink, as opposed to metal, and a faucet protruding from the opposite wall over a basin. He turned the faucet on and dumped the bucket over, scarlet water pouring out, then he rinsed the mop till the water ran clear. I noticed he was no longer in the shinigami outfit, instead in something that looked more human, fleshy body and all. He went towards the sink, running his hands under it, for they were bloodied too. When he looked up into the shiny reflective surface above the sink he jumped and turned to face me, "it looked like a murder scene down there, so I went to clean it up a few days ago -That's all I need is a trail of blood leading to me apartment -, I'm just now rinsing my stuff off.". I wasn't stupid, I could figure that out.

"did you skin your nose or something? I didn't get a great look, but it looks like scar tissue…" I nodded, going with whatever little scenario he came up with to explain it was so much simpler, and better for me.

"I think in a few days you'll be able to speak. That thing around your neck probably severed a few of your vocal cords though" I would…be able to talk? I'd never heard my own voice. This made my hatred melt away, something different replacing it. not happiness, but that neutral feeling. Like when you see everyone around you with something, they use it all the time, but it's something you don't have, and hardly know what it is. I felt as if he had just given me this thing. Another surge of feeling pulsed through me, I felt drawn to this spot, or maybe that spot closer to him. Who knew?

"I bet you're starving. The muscle lining around your stomach looked swollen from what I could see, and you look sunken in" I could tell he was itching to ask what happened to me, but I couldn't tell him. By the time I could speak though, I'd be gone. I could heal fast, the stitches would be dissolved in a few days. I couldn't stay here because of the proximity to the gate I opened, if they even linked that to me…I'd be brought back and slaughtered, something I was not planning on doing.

He wagged a finger at, signaling for me to follow him out the smaller room and out the door. Once it shut, I glanced around his '_apartment'_ he called it. Smeared blood from yet another door with a silver dead bolt on it led a trail on the floor to where I stood now. I must have enough blood to paint the walls with. Turning back around at a clinking noise, I saw him dumping a box of…something into a clear bowl. Most bowls I'd seen were filled with dead organs from used specimens. He poured a white liquid over it, and handed it to me. What the fuck was this? My face remained the same though. I'd learned not to display thoughts on my face. He handed me a metal object with a dented flat end.

"it's cereal? Eat it" he was giving me food? Why was he being so…naively kind to me? Could there actually be a person like this in the world?

I sniffed it carefully for poison, and finding none I stuck my small tongue out to taste it.

"y-your tongue's...blue?" really? I'd never seen it before, so this was news to me, but there were plenty of freakish things about me, so it wasn't that much of a shock that Mayuri would find this funny.

The white substance was cold, and I pulled back from it sharply. It got all on my nose and I twitched it trying to get it off. Now I was irritated, my tail itching to twitch and show my annoyance, it jerked against my thigh.

"…would you prefer toast?" what was toast? I'd never had food before; we always had IVs with nutrients and what not in them injected into us every month. I was used to that, I didn't want the needle though.

"go clear a place in my clutter to sit" I looked around. I was adept at many things, killing, jumping high up, holding my breath, fighting, almost anything, but as soon as I saw what he meant by clutter, I labeled it impossible. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere was piled with huge books and stacks of papers, in the midst of all the mess there was a square chunk of sophisticated looking plastic entangled in wires and cords which had pens and more sheets of paper and novels piled on top of it. Inching forward, I made my way to the least atrocious part of his quagmire, and pushed a few things away from the corner I claimed. Most of the papers were hand written and smudged, some of them typed. Most of the books had the word 'Medical' on them, dictionaries, research books, encyclopedias. Medical…that was why he knew what he was doing.

"I'm studying so I can pass the next exam coming up. I plan on being a doctor…I dunno though…" I couldn't care less. He hands me one of the two brown squares in his hands. He takes a bite of his and motioned for me to do the same, this toast thing is crunchy, and barely tastes like anything. Whatever.

I didn't eat the rest of it. my throat didn't hurt anymore, the taste of blood had vanished…maybe-

"so what happened to you? Why are you in such shitty shape?" once again authentic concern was present, but how the fuck did I answer? Strangely, I wanted to. More then anything, I wanted to tell him the hell I went through. I didn't know why…but I didn't want his pity, more simply I think I wanted his understanding. He tossed me one of the sheets of paper, this one blank, and a pencil. He wanted me to write?... I'd learned to read, but I'd never held a pencil before. Oh well, first time for everything. What the fuck, ne?

"well, eh, what's your name?" name?... I was an experiment, my label was specimen 37. though I'd come to calling myself Shiro because I'm completely white. It was a self-loathing thing, I hated being like Mayuri, yet I called the most attention to the feature that made us similar.

It held the pencil sloppily and loose in my hand, it wiggled and slid across the page.

S-4-l-r-0, sloppy as fuck, but it wasn't my fault. He didn't look at the paper but instead asked me more questions. Heh, maybe he didn't care.

"where did you get hurt like that? Who did that to you?"

F4r f4r 434y- far far away, aw fuck, I couldn't even read it. oh well, he's a doctor, they're supposed to write like this every day. I looked up at him expectantly ready for whatever else he was going to ask.

"who did that to you? Why were you…so-..dissected looking?" he was back to that vomit face again…and he wanted to be a doctor?

B3c4u23 I 4m h473d. because I am hated. Don't get me wrong, I know how to spell, but I'd never even held a pencil before! Of course it looked like shit.

He asked a few more questions, and I gave him my answers. When he finally took the sheet back and read through it his expression was a mix of confusion and amused annoyance.

"goddamn, your handwriting is worse then mine…" he mumbled. I wish I could mumble. Obviously my mordant answers weren't satisfying, but he didn't press it, I was impressed…mildly.

"you've got your wits about you…of course you were asleep for five days straight…"

What the fuck? F-five days? Holy shit…what if-? No way-, but why-?

Everything was jumbled up. if I was asleep for five days…that was almost two weeks in Sereitei, which meant…they weren't coming after me? I closed my eyes breathing deeply, taking in every scent within a two mile radius, if any shinigami were here, I could smell them. They had the smell of a soul-a really toned down sickly sweet smell of rot and mildew- and a scent all their own, something indescribable but purely the essence of 'shinigami'. There was nothing. All I smelled was pollution, human and far off enough that I didn't have to go, eau de hollow, which in this case was good.

If no one was coming to get me after a week, then…did that mean they think I'm dead? I'm not going to die? I could…stay here with this human-gami? For some reason this thought stayed with me, that I could stay with this person, the first to do something…nice for me, the person who in a way, saved my life.

"you don't like toast either? Picky-ass starving people" he wanted me to eat this food? Okay. I bit into eat, being careful not to show my cat-like teeth, and looked up at him. We looked…so much alike. If he had cat ears and a tail and this screwed up nose, and was bleached white, we'd be exact copies. Oh how Mayuri would've loved that.

Mayuri stood over the pile of dead shinigami.

"how interesting..." he was very interested in these deaths, he wondered how they'd died. could there be a type of terminal virus that makes them kill themselves? his eyes sparkled at the thought.

"sir" that annoying frail voice sounded, "one of the zanpakutou on the lost shinigami has the glowing markings on it, which means it was used to open a senkaimon"

alas, it wasnt a self-killing virus after all, how boring.

"and there are only five rotting remains left in that pile, out of the six...at least that's what we think, seeing as all that's left are skeletal remains..." damn

alirght for a third chapter? eh, eh?


	4. Chapter 4

I had pieces of this toast thing scattered over my face. I could feel them sticking to me, and I rubbed at them. I noticed how grey looking my arms were compared to their normal alabaster.

"you need a shower me thinks" was the dirt that visible?

"need to rinse off, and then I'll redress your bandages. That gives them a lesser chance of becoming infected." Thank you doctor know-it-all. He stood up, knocking over a pile of books high enough to reach my waist, and led me back through the set of rooms we'd come from.

"by the way, I'm Ichigo" he smiled a fake smile. It looked so out of place.

The room with the bed also had a big wood box with little boxes in it. he went over to it and pulled one of the boxes half-way out. There were folded up pieces of cloth in them, and he removed one unfolding it, it looked like pants. He held them out to me, but I didn't want them, I wanted something like what I was used to-these shorts- so I grabbed at the hem of my shorts. He blinked, and began to rummage through the things hopefully looking for shorts. When he came back out, he held a pair of short black pants, about to my knees and threw them at me, along with some sort of shirt thing. It was black too with thin straps at the top. Black would make me look even paler… then he slammed the miniature doors shut and dragged me to the other door.

Now in the room with the sinks- bathroom?-he was bent over the faucet over the large basin, beckoning me to follow him.

"this knob makes the water cold, and this one makes it warm, okay?" he turned them both, and looked at me expectantly. What was I supposed to do…? After a few seconds he grabbed me hand- I had to fight not to extend my claws- and held it under the soothingly warm water. At first I didn't like it-I mean it's water, I'm part cat... but then it started to feel good and I ended up almost purring.

"I'll stand by the door if you need anything, kay?" what was up with him that made him so nice? I just nodded, that being the only thing I could do. I wasn't completely sure about the shower thing, I hadn't had one before, but I got the gist of it. water rinses off all the dirt, and then there's some component called soap thrown into the mix. I waited till he left the room to go get more disinfectant, bandages, and what-not before losing the skirt-shorts hiding my secret. Then I untied the make-shift headband and stepped into the hot spray. I jumped back and hissed at it, I did not like water all over me…wait, I hissed? That's a good thing-I think…I baked myself all the way to the wall behind this curtain thing, as far away from the water as possible, my tail squished behind my back and the cold ceramic tile. Slowly, I inched off the wall, into the -gradually becoming more inviting- water. It slid over my skin, the warmth of it leaking into the bindings and making them slip off. The steam seeped into the gash on my stomach and it burned, slowly becoming something I wanted…the steady burn turning into something I needed to feel.

I opened my eyes not even realizing I'd closed them, and looked down at myself. I was incredibly obscenely pale- once the dirt and greyness went down the drain-, multiple scabbed over marks and holes in my arms and legs, and naturally the hole in me. When I shook my head, I could feel my hair tickle my shoulder blades, and my bangs hung in my face. My arms were thin, so were my legs, and most of me- except for my hips, they were slender but flared out a little bit, wider then _Ichigo's_. my fingers were cut and callused, but long and slender. Eh.

After a few minutes of just standing under the water, I rubbed my hands in my hair to try and clean it, though thinking of truly cleaning made me want to lick myself…hmm.

"there's soap there, if you wanna use it" he came back into this room. Soap…there was a bottle of amber liquid with no top on it, so I dumped it upside down in my palm. I knew how to use soap. I dumped the stickiness in my hair, it turned white and drippy, falling into my face. I blew on it, it was such an odd substance, fluffy and white, yet soggy and clear.

"I've got more wrappings, whenever you're done" that was my cue to get out I guess. I played with the knobs, turning them this way and that until the water stopped flowing. Oh shit, now how am I going to hide? The answer came to me in a clenched hand holding a thick white terrycloth. I unfolded it and held it around my waist, then pulled my hair over my ears precariously.

The rest of my hair dripped down in my face covering my eyes when I stepped out of that thing. It was so cold out here compared to in there. My sides began to itch from being exposed to air, and the burning sensation I'd gotten used to melted away, making the throbbing on my front even worse. I sucked in a breath and followed the orange haired man to the room I'd slept in. so far, he hadn't noticed my black fuzzy tufts of fur…maybe he thought they were part of my hair after all, or maybe he was just blissfully oblivious. My tail tightened its deathgrip on my thigh, squeezing me insanely. After laying on my back, and a few minutes of stinging- I could feel it much more, now that the pain wasn't so intense- he handed me the black shirt with the thin straps on the top.

"hold still" was he going to put it on for me? Tch, I'm not helpless… all hope was lost, he pulled it over my head, ruffling my hair, and my ears perked up, I could feel them. Once the end of the top was pulled down and he looked up, I could see his eyes widen in confusion…well that was better then horror. He glanced to the side of my head-looking for human ears no doubt- then to the top of my hair.

"you're not…from around here are you?...wait…the hollow last night and-" I could see the wheels turning in his head, piecing things together. dammit! He would take me back to die in Soul Society now. I low growling type noise sounded from somewhere…it took me a minute to realize that I was the one doing it. how was that-?

" you must be one of the projects like spearhead that they…got rid of" he said it with obvious hatred…did that mean…he wouldn't kill me?

"you're not going back, so quit growling…though I guess growling's an improvement from nothing…"

…this couldn't be real. He was a shinigami…well shini-human, who wasn't going with Sereitei's protocol?...he was truly helping me.

"don't look so surprised, I'm not heartless. This explains the cuts and bruises…and over all lack of health and malnourishment…" his face morphed into a pissed off glare. And that made me happy. The first positive feeling I have…and it's for a near-stranger. Can you feel happiness for another person? Whatever the feeling.

That was it, he didn't ask any questions, or stare at the ears…or my nose…or the twitching tail now exposed from the shorts I'd ripped at the seams.

"well, thanks for ripping those shorts, they really needed that…" oops… "c'mon, you could go for some clothes …and a head band…shopping it is"

I wanted to say something now, anything to him. I wanted him to be the first to hear my voice. I opened my mouth, and sucked in a breath. The air cracked in my throat when I forced my cords to vibrate, it hurt like fuck, but I did it again, moving my tongue against my teeth to make words. My voice was dry and crackly, the taste of blood in my mouth now. "thnk yu" I couldn't say the 'a' sound, and my words were uneven. He turned to study me…

"you're welcome." He said it in a convincing calming voice. I think he knew how much it hurt to speak, because the look in his eyes said he took my words to heart. He handed me a white piece of material with no end, just a circle, to put over my ears. I blinked, and followed him out of his apartment.

^ ^  
(-.-)

We were done, finally. More plain black clothes, didn't matter to me. No one stared at me funny, I appreciated that. I stayed close behind him, I was unfamiliar with this world, and my instincts for survival had been shut off by me, to prevent myself from killing the shinigami…so I was at a loss.

We stopped at some little shack like place with an uncovered window. There was a person there and Ichigo was asking him something. I didn't here whatever it was though, my attention had been caught by two other people a little ways away. They were wrapped up in each other, and were connected at the lips. What a strange action, I think I knew the word for it, but wasn't that something youd do to show possession of someone, or…something else…

When the orange haired one came back from the window he had two little white cartons of something, and it smelled…different, spicy almost. But I couldn't let myself be distracted. I tugged on his shirt to get his attention directed towards those two people. He raised an eyebrow. "what does that mean?" it was barely a whisper, but I could make out my words.

"it's called a kiss, people do it to show affection or appreciation" oh. I knew it was called a kiss, but now I knew it had several different connotations. Appreciation? A connection of lips was a form of appreciation, like a thank you… well, if anything I deeply appreciated this Ichigo's actions. I grabbed his shirt sleeve to regain his attention, and when he faced me I leaned up on my toes, pressing my lips to his. He was a taste I'd not soon forget…or give up. I think, that he was the reason for tastebuds. "thnk yu" I mumbled. I could mumble, what a wonderful thing…

I snapped my head back, looking at his expression. His face had turned pink, how odd. He looked around nervously, and leaned closer to my face. Why would he kiss m? what did he have to thank me for?

"thank you-…truly, you don't know how much I thank you." The words were from him, and I was flabbergasted. What the hell did he have to thank me for? I was the burden.

He didn't speak again, just stared off, as we continued our walk to his home. The smell of whatever it was in those cartons was good though…it smelled a great deal more appetizing then the so-called 'toast'

* * *

kind of pointless, but it should better eventually ^.^ review please.


End file.
